Tag: consultation

Your initial bankruptcy consultation is your first meeting with a bankruptcy office. In this meeting, you will decide if the firm and bankruptcy attorney are the right fit for you and make you feel comfortable. Additionally, you will be given the information and education to decide if filing bankruptcy is the right choice for you and your family.

It is important to have access to an experienced bankruptcy attorney for this meeting. Not all offices provide access to an attorney for their new client bankruptcy consultations. For our office, your initial consultation will always be with an attorney. We do it this because it is important that you start with a relationship with the person who is going to guide you through the process and give you legal advice. Paraprofessionals and/or a receptionist should not be the one to give you legal advice since it is your attorney that has the training and experience with the court! That being said, you will be working with the staff and other attorney in the office as well because you are hiring the firm, but you should have access to your first point of contact for explanations and guidance along the way.

Attorneys routinely provide a free initial bankruptcy consultation. Our office offers free consultations though there are a few exceptions. The consultation can take a while, but this is because you will have our undivided attention during this time and our attorneys will sit with you until all your questions are answered.

The initial consultation involves discussing your current situation and problems to see if bankruptcy can help. Prospective clients often ask what they should bring to the initial bankruptcy consultation. It is not necessary to bring anything with you to the initial consultation at our office, but it may be helpful to bring information about your current income, expenses, debts and any pending lawsuits. There will be an intake form that needs to be filled out. Think about the bankruptcy consultation as a doctor’s appointment where you are getting a problem checked out. The doctor can’t just tell you what is wrong and how to fix it without you answering a lot of questions and providing information about what is going on with you right now. The bankruptcy consultation is like a doctor’s appointment for your financial situation. The more detailed the information provided to us in the consultation, the better our recommendations will be!

Many bankruptcy law offices have assistants and paralegals conduct new client consultations. This should be a big red flag to a client contemplating bankruptcy.

5 Reasons your Consultation should be with a Bankruptcy Attorney

Here are 5 reasons that it is important for your initial consultation to be with a Bankruptcy Attorney.

A consultation should involve the analysis of the prospective client’s situation and how bankruptcy could help. This means giving legal advice. Legal advice about bankruptcy can only come from an attorney. Legal advice coming from an assistant or paralegal is the unlicensed practice of law.

The Bankruptcy Attorney is the one who goes to court. Seeing how cases play out in court and with the trustees gives the Bankruptcy Attorney first hand knowledge of how bankruptcy can work for you.

The attorney’s office works together to collect documents, prepare the paperwork, and file your bankruptcy, but the Bankruptcy Attorney should be the one to work out the strategy of the case with you and discuss your goals in bankruptcy.

Consultations let you know a lot about the service you will receive. If you are not important enough for the attorney to make time to an answer your questions at the beginning, then how confident are you that the attorney will have time for your questions during the bankruptcy process.

You deserve to hear from your would be Attorney!

At the Bankruptcy Law Offices of James Schwitalla, P.A., our Miami bankruptcy lawyers have been committed to helping people get debt relief through bankruptcy for over 18 years. Contact us to learn more about consultations with a Bankruptcy Attorney.